By TEMPLE LI
A world without cattle. But wait, why would we want a world without these bovines? Cattle have been in our history for around 10,500 years. That’s 10,500 years of cattle farts!
Apparently, all cattle are descended from animals that were domesticated from wild ox in the Near East. Cattle are an all-encompassing term for bovines, both males and females, including cows, bulls, steers, heifers, bullocks and calves. Cows are bovine females that have had offspring and heifers are females that have not had claves. Bulls are the males of the species and bullocks usually refer to young bulls. Steers are castrated bulls.
Dairy cows can produce more than 8 gallons of milk per day. As a result, dairy cows supply us with not only milk, but other products—some good for us; some bad—including butter, cheese, sour cream, cottage cheese, cream cheese, whey , condensed milk and ice cream. Based on the recommendation of the American Academy of Pediatrics, toddlers should consume 2.5 daily servings of whole milk—not soy milk and not almond milk.
“Where’s the beef? “ Steers, heifers and bullocks produce beef of the highest quality and calves supply us with veal. A serving of 3 ounces of lean beef provides 10% of the daily recommendation for protein, zinc, and Vitamin B12. Beef production in the U.S. is a $200 billion industry with the average American consuming about 65 lbs. of beef per year, But that’s just to satisfy our appetites. In actuality over 98% of the beef bovine is used, with 45% as food. The rest is an array of by-products, which include consumer goods from perfumes, detergents and shampoos, to athletic equipment, to gummy bears and pet food.
Cattle’s plethora of contributions to the health and well-being of society is apparently offset by their proclivity to excessive burping and farting, If the Union of Concerned Scientists is to be believed, the methane gas they produce as a result of their flatulence , a gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide, equals annual heating-trapping emissions of 24 million cars.
So, what to do? Do we follow the direction of the proponents of the Green New Deal to eliminate all farting cows within 12 years or are there saner heads with more realistic solutions? Scientists are currently working on a genetic fix which would lessen methane emissions, while contributing to cost efficiencies; improving the nutritional make-up of the forage in pastures and climate-friendly pasture management.
So for the milk drinkers and steak eaters of America—there still is hope as long as the Green New Deal remains aspirational and not operational!
Temple Li is the news editor for Empire State News, where she frequently authors her own editorials (just because she feels like it). She graduated at the top of her class at a mediocre college, infuriating her professors with her conservative wit and sultry charm. Empire State News allows Ms. Li to make a living, and to have a platform to tell people what she thinks. What could be better than that?
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